


Collateral Damage (On The Other End)

by TinyBat



Category: Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-04
Updated: 2013-02-04
Packaged: 2017-11-28 05:31:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/670825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinyBat/pseuds/TinyBat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post Episode 85. Darcy, not seeing the video, calls Lizzie to check on her. Lizzie realizes that they have more in common than she originally thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Collateral Damage (On The Other End)

**Author's Note:**

> All of the credit to MK and Ashley for destroying my soul today. Of course my first LBD fic comes out of this.

After forcing her mother to allow her to move a few things back into what was once her bedroom, Lizzie fell face down on her bed and fervently hoped that the nausea she was feeling would dissipate. So of course, her phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number but answered anyway.

“Hello? This is Lizzie’s phone, Lizzie is in the midst of great personal distress and can’t talk right now. Leave a message if it’s important.”

“Lizzie, it’s Darcy. I wanted to check on you. I know you’re there too because you can only ever sound that exhausted when you aren’t a recording.” came an equally exhausted, yet very concerned male voice from the other end of the line. How on earth did he get her number? Gigi probably programmed it in, since he didn’t ask himself.

“Darcy, hi. Thanks for calling but I really don’t think i’m up for a conversation. I just spoke to Lydia and she’s in the bathroom throwing up. I may need to when she’s done, and after that i’m going to sleep for the next month.” It was nice that he wanted to check in, especially after the massive favor that had been the plane ticket home. She’d caused him enough heartache to not merit such a kindness but he did it anyway. She had been so wrong about him and recalling that made her feel even sicker.

“Is Lydia okay? She isn’t hurt is she?” Darcy’s concerned tone increased and sharpened at this piece of news. He knew all too well the damage George Wickham could do. If Lydia and Gigi were as similar in disposition as they appeared, Lydia was due for crippling depression and a watchful eye. Pulling Gigi off the proverbial ledge had exhausted William Darcy in ways he hadn’t known existed. It was killing him that Lizzie, the fiery, incredible, stubborn, beautiful Lizzie who’d stolen with his heart so completely was feeling the same exhaustion of the soul.

“She’s in one piece, physically anyway. Darcy…” Lizzie’s voice was breaking and she could feel the weight of the situation crushing her.

“Yes, i’m right here. What is it?” No, he would fix this, for Lydia, for Gigi who still felt the fingers Wickham had wrapped around her heart, and for Lizzie who was bearing it all and blaming herself unduly.

“She didn’t know. Lydia had no idea. That tape isn’t being distributed with her consent. She looked like she was going to shatter when I showed her the site. That two faced bastard fooled her so completely that she honestly believed he was capable of something like love.” The force of her shaking hands threatened to make her drop her phone, so she put it on speaker and curled up, resting her chin on her knees.

“Oh.” What a stupid thing to say, yet it was all he was capable of. Lizzie’s grief was seeping through the phone and filling him. An image of Gigi, asleep on the couch in his room, wrapped tight in an enormous bathrobe and surrounded by tissues came to Darcy unbidden. She hadn’t known better either. So young and full of life, so many things she hadn’t known. And now Lydia was the victim of a more severe circumstance at the same hands and all he could say was “Oh”.

“Yeah, oh. I really do have to go Darcy. I can barely stay awake and you don’t sound too good either. Please try to sleep, and hug Gigi for me. Thank you again for the plane ticket, and thank you for calling me now. I don’t know what I can say to explain how grateful I am.” She truly meant it. William Darcy was a good man and he sounded far too tired to be dealing with her family and their issues. 

“I’ll do whatever I can to get the video taken down Lizzie, and you can’t tell me otherwise. He hurt Gigi, he’s still hurting her, even though she says she’s fine. He’s poisoned your sister, and what this is doing to you is hurting me. What he does, it isn’t just to the girls like Gigi and Lydia. It’s to the people who love them too. We’re collateral damage.” Darcy yawned, he had been tracking the paper trail a sloppy Wickham was leaving behind him. He was currently in Modesto, getting him back here would be a challenge, but with the right incentive, he wouldn’t be able to resist.

”I’m putting a real end to it, just like I should have when I caught him with Gigi. I’m going to open up Netherfield tomorrow, Bing won’t mind. I will be there for you, and for Lydia in any way I possibly can. Please don’t deny me the opportunity to make things right.” The line clicked dead and once again, Lizzie Bennet was left speechless by William Darcy. She clearly couldn’t stop him because he felt he had a hand in this disaster, but he did understand how she felt right now. She needed that.

It was the most awful sort of irony that realizing how much she cared for him was only happening now. It was better than nothing and a small part of her had been crushed, thinking that she wouldn’t ever be able to spend time with him like that city tour again. She could process that later, Lydia was still in the bathroom wretching and probably could do with some tea and a blanket. From now on, family came first.


End file.
